In early September, gas prices continued to climb in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and Americans dug deep, emptying their pockets to help the afflicted. Come holiday shopping season, it follows that U.S. retailers will take the hit in what could be a dismal Christmas buying season, according to a Sept. 21 story by Los Angeles Times writer Leslie Earnest.

But wait, what about homeowners refinancing their mortgages for extra cash to help pay for the kiddies’ Christmas presents? With interest rates on the rise, pundits say this scenario is an unlikely one.

“Our home has been our piggy bank. The piggy bank, I think, is closed,” Dr. Sung Won Sohn told the Los Angeles Times.

Sohn, a favorite go-to guy for reporters from the Wall Street Journal, Business Week and the New York Times, is a former member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors during the Nixon and Ford administrations, and a former senior vice president and chief economic officer at Wells Fargo Bank.

“It snowballs, basically,” says Sohn, who is now the president and chief executive officer of Los Angeles-based Hanmi Bank. “When you talk with these reporters, they are very good economists themselves, so they know what is good [information] and what is not. So they make those judgments. So if you’re no good, they’re not going to call you.”

Leslie Earnest contacts Sohn at least once every quarter. “His input is helpful because it seems thoughtful and balanced and free from any agenda,” says Earnest, a business writer with the Los Angeles Times since 1998. “Dr. Sohn is well-versed in macroeconomic issues, and he’s also able to address consumer trends, which is very helpful to me as a retail reporter.

“He hasn’t led me astray.”

In 2001, Bloomberg News placed Sohn in their top five for most accurate forecasters.

“My track record has been fairly good,” says Sohn. “First of all, I think it’s experience. The other one is you have to have a knack for it.

“Also your ability to communicate. You know, reporters, journalists, they have a story in mind. So you need to give a very concise, succinct quote that makes sense.”

Making sense of foreign exchange rates, asset-liability management and buying and selling government securities were just a few of Sohn’s duties as an economist during his tenure at Norwest Bank in Minneapolis, and later with Wells Fargo after Norwest took over the San Francisco-based institution. (When Norwest bought out Wells Fargo in 1998, Norwest agreed to keep the venerable Wells Fargo name and move to its headquarters in San Francisco. Sohn, however, remained in Minneapolis.)

The world of finance and banking — considered to be boring, or unintelligible to most folks — is an invaluable service, especially in an ethnic community where countless mom-and-pop businesses in need of loans and credit can’t get the time of day from traditional banks.